The present invention relates to heatsinks for electronic components, and more particularly, relates to an advanced radial base heatsink comprising a cylindrical core with a conduction enhanced base and a series of cooling fins extended therefrom in a substantial radial pattern with a fin orientation relative to a center line optimized to provide a low thermal resistance connection to the base and minimize air flow impedance.
Modern electronic appliances such as computer systems have not only microprocessor chips, including Intel(copyright) i386, i486, Celeron(trademark) or Pentium(copyright) processors, but also many hundreds of integrated circuits (ICs) and other electronic components, most of which are mounted on printed circuit boards (PCBs). Many of these components generate heat during normal operation. Components that have a relatively small number of functions in relation to their size, as for example individual transistors or small scale integrated circuits (ICs), usually dissipate all their heat without a heat sink. However, as these components become smaller and smaller to the extent that many thousands are now combined into a single integrated circuit (IC) chip or an electronic package, and operate faster and faster to provide the computing power that is increasingly required, the amount of heat which the components dissipated increasingly require the assistance of external cooling devices such as heatsinks.
Heatsinks are typically passive devices, for example an extruded aluminum plate with a plurality of fins, that is thermally coupled to a heat source, i.e., an electronic package such as a microprocessor to absorb heat from the electronic component. The heatsinks dissipate this heat into the air by convection. Generally there are several types of heatsinks available for dissipating heat from an electronic package.
Typical heatsinks are copper (Cu) or aluminum (Al) based heatsinks with either folded fins or skived fins With no fan or an active fan on top to promote airflow efficiency. A retention mechanism such as a clip is required to secure the heatsink onto an electronic package across the heat dissipation path. An active fan is often mounted on top of the heatsinks to transfer heat, during operation, from a heat source (electronic package) to the ambient air, via the folded or skived fins. For copper based heat sinks with folded fins, the retention mechanism may be elaborate and often interfere with the heat dissipation path directly over a heat source. In addition, copper based heatsinks can be heavy and expensive to manufacture. Moreover, the fin surface area can be limited with high airflow resistance or heat sink impedance.
Another common example is a Mushroom based Arctic heatsink with either machined or extruded fins. Typically, a fan is installed inside the housing, i.e., a generally cylindrically shaped fan chamber of the Mushroom based Arctic heatsink. The housing surrounding the fan is constructed of a series of cooling vanes (fins) which have elongated openings therebetween allowing air to pass between and cool the vanes (fins). The vanes are angled in an approximately opposite manner to the angle of the fan blades in order to reduce operation noise while improving heat dissipation. However, the Mushroom based Arctic heatsink tends to be more expensive to manufacture as the design is far more complex to house an internal fan. Moreover, the thermal resistance and heat transfer efficiency may not be maximized since the mushroom base is limited with less contact with extending vanes (fins) and less cooling surface area for heat transfer.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a lower cost and thermal resistance alternative to flat, rectangular folded fin or skived fin heatsinks, Mushroom based Arctic heatsinks and other active coolers.